Elizabeth Warren isn’t wowing them in Massachusetts

Elizabeth Warren is doing her damnedest to become a liberal hero. Her obnoxiousness during Senate confirmation hearings is only the latest example.

One might expect that, however this act is viewed in America as a whole, it plays well in liberal Massachusetts. Actually, not so much.

A poll by WBUR in Boston finds that 51 percent of Massachusetts voters view her favorably. That’s not bad. At the same time, though, only 44 percent believe that Warren deserves reelection and 46 percent believe “it’s time to give someone else a chance.”

Steve Koczela, president of the polling group that conducts surveys for WBUR says:

No one’s going to look at a 44 percent reelect number and think that that’s a good number. No one’s going to look at it being close to even between ‘reelect’ and ‘give someone else a chance’ and think that that’s reassuring.

Charlie Baker, the Republican governor of Massachusetts, fared much better in the WBUR survey. His favorability rating is 59 percent, and only 29 percent think someone else should get a chance at being the Commonwealth’s governor.

What explains the lukewarm sentiment towards Warren? America Rising suggests that it may be due to the Senator’s excessive partisanship.

[Warren] extended an olive branch to her opponent’s supporters, tempering her feisty middle-class populism with a dose of conciliation: “I understand that there was a message for people who voted for Senator Brown. I think a lot of them were saying, ‘you’ve got to be willing to reach across the aisle,’” explained Warren.

“I want them to know I heard that loud and clear, and it’s what I want to do.”

It’s not possible to reconcile this statement with Warren’s behavior, which seems designed to ensure she has no enemies on the left if she seeks the presidency in 2020.

Massachusetts voters have taken note. Many are not pleased. It seems that, depending on the overall political landscape in 2018, a strong center-right candidate could present a stiff challenge to Warren if she seeks reelection.

NOTE: This post has been updated to fix a slight inaccuracy in the original account of Warren’s poll numbers.